{"id":858,"date":"2024-08-02T17:15:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T22:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=858"},"modified":"2024-08-02T17:15:26","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T22:15:26","slug":"mr-reagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=858","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Reagan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had a dream…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night I had a dream about Ronald Reagan. We were at a picnic \u2013 keep in mind this is a dream. I\u2019m sitting at a picnic bench, eating or talking with friends and Mr. Reagan appeared, standing to my left. He looked kind of like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe without the hat. That said, hold onto your hat. He smiled at me and said something \u2013 probably, \u2018How are you doing, is the food good, isn\u2019t it a great sunny day?\u2019 etc, but it was preceded by a sound that made me start laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked at Mr. Reagan. \u201cPardon me, sir, but did you just say something like Donald Duck?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did. He looked at me with an impish grin and a twinkle in his eye<\/em>. Like him or not, Reagan had a great sense of humor. We both burst out laughing. That was the end of the dream, but the twinkle set off a very real memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was 1980. I got a call from my editor (I was at Lerner Newspapers at the time), asking me if I\u2019d like to shoot Reagan\u2019s campaign. There was a photo op at a large senior center in Northlake, Il.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hot diggity. Had to go somewhere and get fingerprinted by the FBI, SOP at the time. I was approved, got my passes and the day of, readied my photo equipment and was off to Northlake; a western suburb of Chicago, a little south of O\u2019Hare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The place was once a major hotel. It had been converted into a senior residence and for some reason, had a huge auditorium. It was packed. Lots of fans, canes, silver hair. I was 29 then, now I\u2019m part of that crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Press was in a good spot. I wound up only about 10-15 feet from the podium where Reagan spoke. I remember Cubs TV broadcaster Jack Brickhouse came out and revved up the crowd, which didn\u2019t need to be any more keyed than they already were. \u201cHi Jack\u201d most of the press corps said, with a wave. I had more fun hanging out with Harry Caray a few years later, but that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brickhouse first brought out Henry Hyde, former and then-current US House Rep from the 16th District, Illinois, who spoke fondly, of course, of Reagan. Then US Senator Chuck Percy came out to even more applause. I call him Chuck because I spent 45 minutes in his Wash. DC office with a few other students in 1973, lobbying for the National Student Education Bill. Not like going bowling but good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the main event. You had to have lived during that time. Probably as close to Beatlemania as I\u2019ll ever see. Talcum powder was flying, 5-day Deodorant pads fell from armpits. Men stood up applauding, shouting, with creaseless plaid pants, white belts and white shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a gala. Reagan tore the house down before he said a single word. I took this picture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
l.r \u2013 Il Rep Henry Hyde, Ronald Reagan, Senator Charles Percy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the greatest shot, but the paper ran it. Now I was probably closest to the podium, kneeling, separated by those plush ropes you see in movie theaters. A loose wall of security you might say, but I didn\u2019t think any of the crowd could have leapt over them. The other two gentlemen left and Reagan, now in his element, took the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can youtube or google his speeches from that campaign but Reaganomania was catching on like a California wildfire. The enthusiasm was genuine \u2013 this from someone who grew up in a staunch DaleyDemocrat Chicago family. My folks voted for Reagan too, btw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I\u2019m about to tell you actually happened. I was shooting with a flash unit (Graflite Strobe) big enough to deter a jumbo jet to Midway. It was much too strong to shoot so near the subject and couldn\u2019t be dialed down. Photogs used slower film and small F-stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reagan didn\u2019t like the flash. Understandably, he wore contacts and his eyes were likely sensitive to a minor explosion going off before them. He gave me a look that had no twinkle. Being raised right \u2013 that\u2019s all I can think of \u2013 I politely shut off the flash. I could\u2019ve turned it around to the audience or bounced it, but I just opened up the lens and shot available light (photog talk). Reagan must have appreciated it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gave the crowd their money\u2019s worth. When he was done speaking, he decided to shake hands. He was coming toward me. I was still on my knees but got up quickly (oh, to have those<\/em> days back again). I kind of spun the camera gear behind my back and prepared to shake the future president\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was right in front of me, hand outstretched. He took my hand. \u201cGood luck on your run, Mr. Reagan.\u201d I don\u2019t know how many, if any, of those words got out, but I almost went airborne. We had made eye contact and for a split second, Reagan\u2019s eyes widened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scary. Till I (and he) found out what it was. I landed to the future president\u2019s right, in front of one of the Secret Service guys, who had a bit of a smile on their faces. I looked back and there was a short, stout, yes, little old lady who could\u2019ve been a relative of Ditka\u2019s or even Ditka on his knees, in drag. She had blindsided me. She grabbed the Gipper\u2019s hand and I heard her coo, \u201cOh Ronnie, I just love you! I\u2019ve seen all your films\u2026\u201d To her credit, she was probably a young girl, teenager, when Reagan was a movie star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gathered myself together \u2013 I didn\u2019t think it was funny as the SS did \u2013 and got up, muttering to myself. Mr. Reagan turned his head ever-so-slightly in my direction and with a slight smile, glanced at me with a twinkle in his eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a dream… Last night I had a dream about Ronald Reagan. We were at a picnic \u2013 keep in mind this is a dream. I\u2019m sitting at a picnic bench, eating or talking with friends and Mr. Reagan appeared, standing to my left. He looked kind of like this: Maybe without the hat. … Continue reading Mr. Reagan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}